Reconciliation
by MaxArkem
Summary: Snape and McGonagall? Was that a thing? Maybe? Could be. If it was though, something like this must have happened.
1. Reconciliation

The Great Hall was sullen and silent over dinner, as it had been for months. Snape looked out over the sea of downturned faces at the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw tables. Slytherin house, alone of all of them, seemed to be flourishing under the new conditions. From the headmaster's chair, Snape noted, again, the handful of upper-year students who had gathered a following. They sat, self-satisfied, at the centre of attention in small groups up and down the table. Their particular aptitudes for torture had made them popular with the Carrows; Slytherins knew it paid to be friends with the Carrows' favourites.

A handful of Slytherins no longer sat at the Slytherin table. A few, refusing to play along, had joined the Hufflepuff table at the beginning of term; the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws had refused them, but several upper-year Hufflepuffs had taken the Slytherin defectors, (as they were quietly known among the other houses) under their wing. Snape let his gaze drift across the tables, noting the eddies in the room, the points of power. Longbottom sat, upright and defiant, in a cluster of his friends. Dumbledore's Army was being driven underground, slowly but surely, but Longbottom would probably be the last to go. Snape felt a grudging respect for the boy's courage.

Amycus belched, and tapped his shoulder. Stifling his disgust, Snape turned to face his ruddy-faced interlocutor.

"Headmaster," the Death Eater slurred, half-drunk on wine, grinning like a fool, "I think it's time we finally taught the Slytherin Traitors a bit of a lesson. Blood traitors, the lot, you know. Give the troops some practice with the _Cruciatus_." Alecto, at her brother's side, giggled and nodded.

Snape carefully set his silverware down. He could feel McGonagall's eyes boring into the back of his head. He chose his words with care.

"The Dark Lord could care less if a handful of children would prefer to hide behind the skirts of Hufflepuff." He met Amycus's beady eyes squarely. "Let them be. Their treachery binds the rest of the House together."

The Carrows grunted, annoyed. "It'd be _fun_ though," Alecto whined. "You're not protecting them, are you Severus?"

Snape allowed a flash of his own irritation to show through. Though they tried to hide it, the siblings flinched. "Enough." His nostrils flared. "You're both drunk, and making fools of yourselves. Get out of here before you embarrass yourselves, and the Dark Lord, any further."

Amycus looked stung, but Alecto's eyes narrowed. "Whatever you say, _headmaster_." She took her brother by the arm. "Come on, you."

Snape watched them leave, as did every other eye in the room. He ruled at Hogwarts, perhaps, but the Carrows inspired the fear he used to maintain order. When the door shut behind them, the room noticeably relaxed. Snape turned back towards the hall, and forced himself to eat another bite of food. He glanced around and met McGonagall's guardedly approving look. He looked away.

The Headmaster's quarters were cold and dark, but they were dry and clean, and the only place Snape was afforded the slightest solitude in the castle. Tonight, as he shut the door behind him, he felt, as every night, the sudden crush of stress and emotion. He glanced at the portraits dozing on the wall. Albus looked down at him, expressionless. Grimacing, Snape cast a silencing charm.

"So."

Albus peered at him over his half-moon spectacles. "Another day, Severus."

Snape collapsed into a chair. "I…" he hesitated. "I can't continue like this, Albus. It's destroying me."

The old wizard smiled, sadly. "I understand." He steepled his fingers, and leaned forward in his chair, looking down at Snape from on high. "You are doing a great thing by this, Severus. You are holding the fracturing pieces of this castle together as no one else could."

Snape pressed his face into his hands. "And for _what_ , Albus? No news of Potter in weeks, the Dark Lord growing stronger with each passing day, the school tearing itself apart. I can't keep holding those rabid animals back, Albus, the Carrows will have their way in the end." He glanced up to find, to his surprise, Albus's face creased in a smile. Snape sneered. "What?"

Albus sighed. "You are stronger than you give yourself credit for, Severus. But you're right; you have been too long alone in this fight. It's time, perhaps, to let another help you."

Snape frowned. "What are you talking about."

Albus raised an eyebrow. "You and Minerva used to be so close, Severus."

Snape looked away, feeling the familiar tightness in his chest. "That ended the night you died," he said bitterly.

Albus finally had the grace to look a little less happy. "I know. And I am so sorry for what that did to you, Severus."

Snape shrugged. "I have managed."

Albus nodded. "But you need not manage any longer."

Snape frowned. "I don't understand."

Albus smiled again. "I think you need an ally, Severus, and Minerva is as powerful and loyal an ally as you could wish for."

Snape curled his lip. "She hates me now, Albus."

"I can help you there, Severus. Bring her here, let me speak to her."

Snape blinked. "Why would you do that now? Why after all this time?"

Albus's smile was tinged with regret. "I was afraid to risk her wrath, Severus. Afraid to face the consequences of my choices." The old wizard's smile wavered. A solitary tear ran down his cheek. "I put all that on you, my friend. I let you bear more burdens than I ever should have, and I see now how much a toll they have taken on you."

Snape stared blankly back at the old man.

Albus continued. "Severus, there is still more I need of you. We are nearing the end of this, but not yet."

Snape ground his teeth. "Can you not _tell_ me?"

Albus was crying properly now. "Not yet." He dabbed at his eyes with the sleeve of his robe. "Please, trust me. But I _can_ rectify at least one mistake. I can face an old friend, and tell her how I let her down." He sniffed, and directed a watery smile to Snape. "Let you _both_ down."

McGonagall's icy glare when she answered the door to her rooms nearly made him change his mind. "What on earth can you have to say to me at this hour, Severus?" Snape took a half step back, uncharacteristically at a loss for words. McGonagall lips pressed together. "Has another of my students been mauled by your dogs?"

Snape mutely shook his head. "Albus wants to talk to you," he managed.

Her face changed immediately. She hadn't been in the headmaster's office since Snape replaced her; he knew she had missed the old wizard more than she would ever let show. "Why?"

Snape shook his head. "Please, Minerva. Let him tell you."

McGonagall looked suspicious, but he could see the desire to speak to Albus warring with her concerns, and win. She wrapped a shawl around her shoulders, twirled her wand conspicuously in her hand, and nodded sharply. "Fine."

They were silent as they walked to the office. At the door, Snape hesitated, then stepped back to let her enter alone. He caught the first syllable of a silencing charm, as the door closed behind him, then nothing.

He sat on a stone bench, head in hands, and waited. After what felt to be an hour, the door slowly swung open. He waited, but she didn't emerge. After a moment, he hesitantly went inside.

McGonagall's eyes were red, but her face was set. Albus was still crying quietly into his robes. Snape stood, wordlessly, staring at her. The door shut; the quiet sounds of the castle cut off as the charm took effect.

"Lily Potter?" McGonagall's words were short, sharp, and cut like a knife. Snape staggered, despite himself. He opened his mouth, but couldn't bring himself to respond.

McGonagall bit her lip, and, to his surprise, looked away. "I'm sorry, Severus. That's not fair." She glanced at him, again. "Too much has happened. Too many things we've said to each other. I never imagined what we had to be more than it was."

Snape felt his eyes burn as he met her gaze, and, swallowed down his grief. "It's not how it sounds, Minerva."

McGonagall smiled, with only a trace of bitterness. "Give me some credit, Severus, I think I understand."

Albus's gentle sobbing was the only sound in the room for a long moment. Then, McGonagall spoke again.

"I'm sorry."

Snape blinked. "For what?"

"For everything I said to you when Albus died. For everything I've done to you since. For not…" She broke off, her eyes bright. She swallowed, and continued. "For not _trusting_ you like he did. For not trusting you like you deserved."

Snape nodded slowly. "I never deserved your trust," he said quietly.

She shook her head. "No, Severus. You did. You do. You have done a truly heroic thing." She raised a trembling hand, and held it out to him. "Albus explained everything. I cannot imagine how hard that must have been."

For a moment, Snape stood still, a flood of viciously repressed emotion rising up in him, inexorably. For months, the last thing he saw when he closed his eyes before sleep had been the flash of green, and the broken body of his friend, his mentor, the one man who had trusted him when not another soul in the world had. For months, there had been no one to speak to, no one to cry with.

He had missed the old wizard's funeral; when he finally returned, it was as an enemy, as hated as any, if not more so. His friends and colleagues of the last two decades, turning away from him, hating him for the same reasons he hated himself. But he could say nothing in his defense, nothing to make them understand. Instead, he had suffered their scorn and hate in silence, and crawled away to his rooms at night to suffer his own hate and scorn, alone, unloved, unwanted by anyone.

Minerva's cold eyes had been the most painful. He knew what Albus had meant to her; the betrayal for her could not have been more horrible. To have something so precious torn away, by the one man she had allowed near to her, after the death of her husband.

Now, as she held out a hand, he finally allowed himself to reach for her, and as they touched, the pain and horror of the last months erupted out of him. He collapsed into her arms.

Snape must have fallen asleep. When he woke up, it was still dark outside the castle; the clock on the wall told him it was two in the morning. He sat up; he was in the headmaster's bed, Minerva curled at the foot of the mattress as a cat. Memory flooded back to him.

They had cried, and talked, and laughed through their tears, and although it had been as painful as anything Snape had ever suffered, he felt, miraculously, much better. He sat, still and silent, scarcely believing it possible; after all these months of constant misery, he felt almost, tentatively, happy. He closed his eyes, and breathed a silent thanks to Albus.

Then he reached out and collected Minerva into his arms.

She stretched in his hands, staring up at him out of her cat eyes, and he smiled at her, cautiously. She blinked at him. He put out a hand to pat her head, and she batted him. He recoiled, then realized she was laughing. Her nose wrinkled and her tail curled contentedly around her body.

He grinned again, more confidently, and shook his head. "Evil little kitten," he growled. She rolled her eyes, and transformed. He bent to kiss her, as she ran a hand through his hair.

When he pulled away, she raised an eyebrow. "Kitten?"

He shrugged. "Would you prefer cat?"

Minerva smiled against his lips. "Not enough syllables, I suppose."

He chuckled, and kissed her again. She wrapped an arm around his neck, drawing him in closer. He let her pull his robes off him, losing himself in her smell and touch, feeling a glimmer of hope and happiness for the first time in a long, long time.


	2. Cooperation

" _Crucio!"_ Amycus's wheezing laugh echoed through the halls as the young girl writhed on the ground. The young Hufflepuff had been caught smuggling food to one of her housemates in the dungeons. That student was still chained to the wall under guard by a few zealous Slytherins, but his hapless would-be saviour had been dragged by the Carrows upstairs to be tortured in full view of the castle.

Snape had heard the screaming from his office as they dragged her past. Alecto's wand rose again. " _Crucio!"_ her rasping voice was lost in the fresh screams from the Hufflepuff on the flagstones. Amycus, watching with undisguised enjoyment, had his own wand out too, discouraging intervention from the group of students who had gathered, horrified, around the scene.

A door crashed open down the hall; Minerva sailed out, her hat askew, wand out, fury on her face. Amycus threw Snape a glance of ill-disguised fear, and jostled his sister, who stopped for a moment. The girl on the ground whimpered, and hugged her legs to her chest.

" _ENOUGH!"_ Minerva thundered. Her eyes blazed as she took in the scene. "So help me, Alecto…" she trailed off, catching Snape's warning glare. A muscle in her jaw flexed. For a moment, he thought she might attack the Carrows and to hell with the consequences. Then, with a visible effort, she calmed herself.

The Death Eaters had flinched back under the force of her arrival; now, reassured, they cackled. "What are you going to do, Minerva? You can't do anything for the little mudblood, can you?" Amycus gave another wheezing laugh.

"She had it coming," Alecto sneered, "We'd given the other brat detention. She was going against strict instructions from the headmaster."

Minerva turned on Snape, eyes shooting fire. "Well, _headmaster_?" she asked, voice dripping scorn. "Are you content that this young woman's punishment has been sufficient given the serious nature of her infraction?"

There was a murmur among the watching students. Several had their wands out; Snape noticed a handful of Gryffindors murmuring to each other, and caught a glimpse of a Dumbledore's Army medallion being pulled from someone's robes. Things could get out of hand, here.

"Alecto, I think Miss. Hawthorne has learned her lesson, don't you?" Snape said coldly, his voice betraying no emotion. The Carrows were spoiling for a fight, but even they had finally caught on to the tension in the hallway. Amycus scoffed.

"I should hope so," he sputtered, eyes darting around at the hardened faces and drawn wands.

Alecto seemed less willing to give up. "I'm not sure, headmaster," she spat, throwing the prostrate Hufflepuff a venomous look. "I think she might need further punishment."

Snape saw his chance, and took it. "Very well then. Miss Hawthorne, detention, with me, tonight. Nine o'clock, don't you _dare_ be late." He didn't so much as glance at the whimpering girl on the floor. Turning on his heel, he stalked back to his office.

He paused at the door, and looked back. Left behind, and badly outnumbered, the Carrows had finally conceded defeat. Minerva watched them skulk away, then, shooing the students back to class, she bent to help Hawthorne to the hospital wing.

She came to him when her class ended. "Once more, like that, Severus, and I swear I'll kill that sadistic hag," she exclaimed as she closed the door behind her. She collapsed into the chair before his desk. "They're _children_ , we have a duty to protect them."

Snape met her gaze, and she softened when she saw the pain behind his eyes. He nodded, sharply. "I know. But there are bigger things at stake here." He ran a hand through his hair. "Amycus and Alecto are here because the Dark Lord knows they're bumbling idiots. If they were to be attacked, however, he might decide to take a more direct role."

Minerva swore. "Hogwarts cannot be held hostage, Severus." She shook her head. "This is too much. Torturing our children in the halls?"

Snape nodded again. "Miss Hawthorne will be sent home. Thus far I have been unable to get any students out of the castle myself, though I have shielded your own efforts from the Carrows, but now things are different."

Minerva looked up, surprised. "You knew about Pomona and Filius and I?"

Snape nodded. "I try to stay apprised of all the goings-on in the castle. Albus kept a network of discreet portraits."

Minerva narrowed her eyes. "Are you Fawkes?"

Snape permitted himself a narrow smile. "Perhaps."

Minerva rolled her eyes. "I swear, if Longbottom had asked me once more if I'm 'Fawkes' I should have had to turn him into a toad. The boy's insatiable." She raised an eyebrow. "I can't imagine he'd be terribly pleased to learn his informant is _you_."

Snape shrugged. "A necessary evil. Dumbledore's Army is the only force I have to call on. If I acted directly, everything we've built here would fall apart."

Minerva nodded. "Well, I can get Rebecca Hawthorne out in the usual way. All the more easily if I don't have to worry about alerting you. The Carrows are hardly the most attentive."

Snape grimaced. "I would worry more about their network of Slytherins."

Minerva nodded. "It's intolerable. Our own students turned against us. Some of those children used to be very kind, Severus."

Snape shrugged. "I pity them. The atmosphere in Slytherin is venomous right now. No one knows who to trust, Macnair and a handful of others are building gangs of their own."

Minerva sighed. "I know. But it's hard not to be angry."

Snape nodded. "Indeed."

Minerva sat back in her chair. "Well. We do what we can. I'll intercept Hawthorne on her way to detention this evening, shall I?"

Snape nodded. "Get her out quickly. That'll give me an excuse to go looking for her, too, which I can use to patrol the hallways, perhaps even get that other boy out of the dungeons to question him."

Minerva smiled. "We could nab _him_ coming back from questioning."

Snape nodded. "Exactly. We can't evacuate the school; if the Dark Lord caught wind of that he'd send another dozen Death Eaters. The children are too valuable as potential hostages."

Minerva shrugged. "But a few here, a few there… who'll notice. Certainly not the Carrows."

Snape permitted himself a thin smile. "As you pointed out. They're hardly the most attentive."

Snape waited until the clock struck a quarter past nine to leave on his apparent search for Rebecca Hawthorne. He encountered Amycus muttering to a handful of upper-year Slytherins by the Great Hall.

"Headmaster!" he whined, when he saw Snape. He shooed the students away, and stepped closer. "I'd meant to talk to you. Regent says he saw your girl, Hawthorne, and that bitch McGonagall going up to the astronomy tower. I was just about to go up with some of the boys," he gestured at the receding backs of the Slytherins, "but this is better."

Snape ground his teeth, but there was little he could say. "Very well." He hesitated, then added, "If Minerva is there, we should collect Alecto."

Amycus giggled. "She's already on her way. She wouldn't miss a chance to rip that old bitch a new one."

Snape's jaw clenched. "Then we should hurry and go help her."

He fairly flew down the hall towards the tower, Amycus struggling to keep up. At the bottom of the stairs, he heard a crash from above, and a triumphant shout. Throwing caution to the winds, he leapt into the air, racing up the spiral staircase like a bat out of hell, leaving Amycus to struggle along on foot.

He found Alecto and Minerva facing off, wands drawn. To his relief, Hawthorne seemed to have already gone; a distant silhouette against the moon caught his eye, but Alecto seemed not to notice.

"Headmaster!" She screeched, grinning. She never took her wary eyes from Minerva's steady wand, but she threw out an arm in welcome. "Finally caught her in the act. The old bag's been smuggling kids out of the castle. She's gone too far now. Let's finish her off. One less Phoenix for the Dark Lord to kill, eh?"

Minerva was deathly calm, her wand never wavering from Alecto's face. Snape's mind raced. He could let Minerva defeat Alecto, and Amycus too, if he ever made it up the stairs, but she would have to flee the castle. That would be catastrophic for the Gryffindor students; it might lead to open revolt.

Only one other option. He pulled out his wand, and walked to stand next to Alecto. "Minerva," he said coldly. "Miss Hawthorne did _not_ have my permission to leave the castle."

Minerva met his gaze calmly. "This has gone on long enough, Severus. I won't stand by while my students are tortured by your rabid dogs."

Amycus chose that moment to emerge from the tower, panting, but elated. He took in the situation, have a wheezing laugh, and hurled a curse at Minerva. She deflected it into the air, where it exploded in a noxious green cloud. Amycus flinched.

Alecto snarled. "I've been looking forward to this," she hissed. " _Crucio!"_ She raised her wand with a flourish, then keeled over as Snape stunned her quietly behind her back. Amycus blinked, frowned, and flew back into the stairwell as Minerva's own stunner caught him in the chest.

Minerva crossed to Snape in two quick strides, and kissed him. For a moment, they stood there on the parapet, cinders from Amycus's deflected curse raining down like snow. Then, she pulled back. "Well, Severus? Now what?"

Snape grimaced. "I can't afford to lose you now." He hesitated, took her hand. "I couldn't do this alone, not again."

Minerva smiled wryly. "I wouldn't abandon you. Besides, if I left, Gryffindor would revolt."

Snape smiled thinly. "Quite." He turned to the Carrows. "Best this incident stay between you and I, then."

-

Alecto blinked awake. "Severus?"

He knelt in front of her, and met her beady eyes with his own cold stare. "You are a sickening, vile, horrible woman, Alecto, and a disgrace to your family and wizard-kind."

She stared at him blankly. Then, as her face contorted with fury, he raised his wand.

" _Obliviate_."


End file.
